1. How to wear a malong: 00:42

Someone came upon my webpages while looking for ways to wear a malong,
one of the traditional Filipino costumes. It's really simple - just a
tube of cloth - but incredibly versatile. Although a number of
creative ways to use a malong are featured in a traditional dance
called (unsurprisingly) the malong-malong, I haven't been able to find
a good Web reference that gives step-by-step instructions on how to
wear a malong. I may just build a malong site this summer, after
sewing that pretty blue/green batik cloth into a spring/summer malong.

Here are a number of ways to wear a malong as a full-length skirt. The
easiest way to wear a malong around your waist would be to flatten the
tube and wrap it around your waist, tucking it in at the end. My
malong is ankle-length when worn like that, which probably goes to
show that I'm exactly the typical Filipino's height.

Alternatively, you can step into the tube and fold the malong inwards
until it's the height you want. Then:

draw it to one side and wrap that one around tightly, tucking in
the other end with or without pleating. To pleat, you wrap part of
it tightly and then fold the excess back and forth with a little
bit of overlap (like making a paper fan, except with less
overlap), then tucking this bulky part into the tight inner part.

OR

stand in the middle and use your elbows to keep the front side of the malong
close to your waist while you tie the excess ends into a knot (or a
double knot), or

OR

draw it forward and backward, then use your elbows to keep the
inside part of the malong close to your body as you fold the excess
ends to one side and tie a knot

Or you can make something up. =)

I tend to like pleating over a tight wrap because pleating gives you
some freedom of movement. If I knot the malong, I prefer to knot it at
the side so that it has more of a shape, although middle-knotted
malongs go nicely with certain tops.

I should post pictures sometime - maybe three weeks from now, when things quiet down a bit (end of term cramming)...

I've also figured out how to wear it as a dress that reminds people of
India or togas. It's interestingly cultural and gets a lot of comments
(although I'm not sure how many of those are being politically
sensitive) although it's probably not kosher (safety pins?!). For that
one, you step into the tube and pin it under one arm, then take the
excess and drape it over the opposite shoulder, pinning it to the
front side and adding a large brooch.

I also experimented with using garters to hold up a tube dress (wrap
the tube around you, fold it in front, fold a little bit back, tuck
the excess under that fold, fold the top part in a bit to secure, then
clip on the garters like dress straps). White garters with metal
fasteners looked incongruous. Black or beaded garters with black
fasteners might do the trick.

And yes, I know, I should just post pictures so that you know what I'm
talking about, but I'm technically not supposed to be up this late
documenting part of my cultural heritage... =)

Besides, isn't it just _so_ cool that malongs are one of the
acceptable skirt-like garments that guys can wear? ;)

More malong tips would be very much appreciated. If my blue/green
malong goes well, I'll probably shift more of my wardrobe to malongs.
(I can't sew a balintawak or a Maria Clara!) People can chalk it up to
my being charmingly quirky/nationalistic/exotic/weird...

2. Going dark: 01:01

If I don't post a lot between now and May 1, it's probably because I'm
either (a) cramming my reading paper, or (b) in Montreal and away from
my network connection. Please don't worry about me.

If you need to get in touch with me while I'm away, e-mail me to get
my cellphone number (ends in 22). I get charged for minutes (even
incoming!) at 5c for evening/weekend minutes and 40c for other
minutes, so either send me text messages or make sure it's important.
=) I'll _try_ to check my e-mail once in a while, but I'm not going to
spend hours on the Net instead of exploring Montreal.

4. Amazing: 01:36

One of the things I love about meeting other people is that they are
just mind-bogglingly inspiring. And it's not that I'm a few years
younger than they are, even, because they were doing much cooler
things at even younger ages.

What can I bring to the table? Nothing, really - no mad technical
skills, no business savvy, no crazy coding war stories. I have only
that passion, that great desire to learn and to be of some use to the
world.

5. Fruit and crab salad: 15:00

I remembered having a rather nice Asian salad that included mandarin
oranges, so I decided to see what mixing fruits into a salad would be
like. I peeled and chopped half an orange and one kiwi into bite-sized
bits, then sprinkled them onto a bed of romaine lettuce. I cubed two
crab sticks to add protein and a touch of saltiness. After tasting it,
I decided it lacked a little something, so I made a quick vinaigrette
by shaking balsamic vinegar, pepper, and olive oil in a small jar.

That wasn't a bad lunch, although I suspect it might be better if I
used mandarin oranges instead of navel oranges, and if I could think
of a more Asian dressing...

7. Stretch...: 23:44

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... Much work done today, so I don't feel guilty about blogging and catching up on my e-mail before I go to bed.

Reading paper progress:
37 papers read today.
100 papers read total.
158 papers to go.
Not all of the papers are related, but still... good work!

See, this is what I should've been doing throughout the term instead of during one mad sprint near the end, but it really also just gelled together. =) Enterprise social bookmarking. That's what I'm into. Mark should be happy. The vast majority of the papers I've read come from peer-reviewed journals, and they're all over the place - collaborative filtering, cooperation, community, social navigation...

=)

I'm _so_ glad I'm okay with reading on a computer, and that I'm not stuck on some low-refresh CRT. A 10" display makes for _really_ _bad_ _scrolling_, but it's something. In an ideal world, I suppose I'd have a huge monitor just for things like this - but hey...

I'd love to hear about any questions, comments, suggestions or links that you might have. Your comments will not be posted on this website immediately, but will be e-mailed to me first. You can use this form to get in touch with me, or e-mail me at [email protected] .

Page: 2006.04.18

Updated: 2006-04-1823:44:1823:44:18-0400

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